CRAWFORDS IN BELFAST
I do not know the origins of the Crawfords in Ireland. Hugh Crawford died early although we know a fair amount about his family.
I will have to find the opportunity to delve more into their background. It is possible that they or their predecessors were settlers from Scotland; part of a later plantation. The name of Crawford is common in Scotland, particularly Ayrshire. Some at least were involved in the textile industry. Ayrshire Roots tantalisingly notes Crawfords of Beith in Ayrshire working with linen as weavers and linen lappers (note this term with regard to Hugh Crawford).
Were they really part of a plantation? It is quite possible that they were rather attracted much later by better prospects in northern Ireland evolved since the plantation of centuries before. I guess this to still be the situation in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Protestants were encouraged by the UK Government even up into more modern history. An alternative motivation may have been the poor crops in Scotland in the 18th century. Prof Tom Divine refers to The Lean Years and notes that the Scottish west coast caught much of the extraoringary harsh weather. Farmers from places such as south west Scotland migrated to Ulster (amongst other places), but that hints at a similar origin in Ireland of Crawfords.
In order to understand the plantation we need to go back to 1610. I include a link to good websites on this under LINKS. I suspect, but have no proof that they were later emigrants making the most of what was a scenario set in their favour by very much earlier politics. However the name of Crawford hints (but does not confirm) possible ancestry - at least on the male side.
Our Crawfords were protestant and lived in Belfast.
The potato famine of 1845–49 would have affected farmers and all those dependent on such a diet. Ireland was extremely poverty stricken anyway and this greatly exacerbated conditions. Many emmigrated such as to the USA. Our Crawfords, at least this family, stayed put so we can only imagine that they were less affected; perhaps by having other careers. Later on I describe the family in more detail and wehre they lived. There were certainly a large number of them in a small terrace house and that suggests hard times and sharing of resources.
By the time that we really get to grips with their family situations we are looking at modern history.
We will get to the individual family members and family tree in due course. This 1901 census notes who was resident in the family home.
It is of interest that several of them signed the Ulster Covenant and their cignatures can be found when searching the NI direct website. See the CRAWFORD AND THE ULSTER COVENANT section for more details. https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/services/search-ulster-covenant
This census of 1911 shows their jobs and religions as well as level of education
At the time of their daughter Annie's birth, they lived at 50 Lavinia Street, but by the time we get to know them a bit better theywere living at 30 Fitzroy Place, in Belfast. (Lavinia Street appears to have been redeveloped with names such as Lavinia Mews and Square being a rough guide). We know this in part from the Covenant signatory register. This an interesting district (to those who may have architectural leanings) of red brick terrace houses behind the university. Many of these are now student housing; subdivided and cramped. We see a large family including some of the related Cherry family living there and wonder how they could all fit in.
We visited Belfast a few years ago (2016) and found the house. We even managed to get into the entrance lobby. It appears to have been a good quality if small double storey house. I discuss the bayonet that I have inherited below. The family story is that it was hidden under a delivery of coal in the cellar when the security forces were doing their rounds. I saw no signs of a cellar, but there could have well been one.
Down the road and the corner of University Avenue is the Iglesia ni Cristo, the Church of Christ. It was sold in 2013 to the Iglesia Ni Cristo, a Filipino religious organisation, but was originally the Church of Christ Scientist. http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMV0TA_Iglesia_ni_Cristo_University_Ave_Belfast
It was designed As the Christian Science Church by Mr William-Ellis and completed in 1937. It is presumed that it stands on the site of an earlier Christian Science Church. That date is later than when our family were actively involved there. This is very significant for the Crawfords. I discuss this further under CRAWFORDS AND RELIGION, but for the moment lets note that it links Daisy Crawford in particular to the Robinson and Cleaver department store and to Stormont.
Above I refer to a bayonet that I have inherited. It is one of two, not quite an exact pair, but of similar shape and size. My brother has the other. My grandmother used to tell of how they were concealed under a load of coal when the security personnel searched the houses for weapons. These two bayonets survived not just that search, but being taken to South Africa by her. And then one of them to Scotland when we immigrated.
The question then arises as to why they even had such weapons. A bayonet of this length is like a small sword. (63cm overall. 51cm blade). If not used on a rifle for stabbing it could be removed for direct combat. Were they to resist the uprising? To serve with the security forces eg for policing? Or was it retained after WWI? If they needed to be hidden this suggests that they didn't want it known that they had them. I have traced them online to manufacture in Brescia, Italy, which seems to have been an imporant centre of blade manufacture.
My wife and I used ours to cut our wedding cake and last year so did our younger daughter. Family tradition?
